This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
It would be desirable to provide an improved lighting and energy conservation system for use in low temperature applications such as commercial or industrial freezers, such as (but not limited to) warehouse-type freezers that provide a low temperature environment (e.g. within a range of approximately −20 degrees F. through +20 degrees F., etc.) for cold storage of items such as frozen food products and the like. Such low temperature applications or environments typically have relatively limited and infrequent occupancy by humans (e.g. operators or workers at the facility, etc.) due to the low temperature exposure and the nature of the environment as a storage area. Conventional light fixtures intended for use in such low temperature applications have a number of disadvantages. For example, high intensity discharge (HID) and fluorescent lighting fixtures tend operate at a lower efficiency in a low temperature environment and typically require a relatively prolonged initiation and warm-up time before the light level reaches the normal intensity. Accordingly, facility owners typically allow such fixtures to remain “on” all the time, even when the low temperature area is not occupied, so that the low temperature area will be illuminated when needed and people needing to access the area won't need to wait for the lights to warm-up. Such practices tend to be energy inefficient because energy used to continuously illuminate the fixtures is wasted when the area is unoccupied, and the added heat load from the light fixtures on the refrigeration system that cools the area is unnecessary. Also, such known fixtures are typically not configured to focus light in certain desired areas, such as from a tall ceiling downward into long aisles or passageways having tall shelves of frozen products stacked on opposite sides of the aisles. Further, such known fixtures typically do not include power or intensity control devices that can be used to customize the light output and provide for extended life of the light source of the light fixture.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a lighting and energy conservation system having a light source, such as LEDs that operate more efficiently in low temperature environments. It would also be desirable to provide a modular LED light fixture for use in low temperature applications (such as freezers and the like) that permits relatively instantaneous or rapid illumination when the fixture is turned on, so that facility operators are less inclined to leave the fixtures “on” continuously, thereby reducing energy consumption by the fixture and reducing heat load contribution to the freezer from the fixtures. It would also be desirable to provide a modular LED light fixture for use in low temperature applications that includes LEDs mounted on strips that are interchangeably installed in reflective channels of a body of the light fixture. It would also be desirable to provide a modular LED light fixture for use in low temperature applications (such as freezers and the like) that includes a plurality of different lenses that are interchangeably installed over each LED for adjusting (or otherwise customizing) a light dispersion pattern/profile for each LED on each of the strips. It would also be desirable to provide a modular LED light fixture for use in low temperature applications (such as freezers and the like) that includes a quick-connect (e.g. twist-lock) attachment device for coupling the lenses to the strips. It would also be desirable to provide a modular LED light fixture for use in low temperature applications (such as freezers and the like) that includes a multi-position power control device (e.g. a switch, such as for example, a four way switch, etc.) associated with each of the strips so that a total light output of the fixture can be individually customized for a wide variety of applications by adjusting the power to each of the strips.